1. He’s widely considered a doddering old fool ... she’s an energetic young go-getter. (And drop-dead gorgeous, to boot.)

2. He’s despised by the wingnut base ... she’s got ’em knotted around her pinky. (And no way they'll judge her "family values" as a mother leaving her four-month-old Down Syndrome baby to hit the campaign trail. As another poster pointed out, the wingnuts always make exceptions for their own.)

3. The 317 PUMAs still holding out in a bunker somewhere? Icing on the cake.

Oh yes, and does any sentient being honestly think that Republican voters give a FF about her education, experience, leadership ability, foreign policy creds, etc? These are the dimwits who put George W. Bush into office TWICE, people!!

Dems need to be afraid. Be very afraid.

Personally I cannot stand Sinn Fein and I find Ms. MacDonald totally vacuous and no I did not meet her at Trinity -- elsewhere in fact. She is well spoken, reasonably pulchitudinous and a vacuous airhead -- who gets elected.

Sarah Palin similarly is far right, possible vacuous, but not bad looking and well spoken -- and for many in the electorate that is enough to vote for her.

Biden is a very very decent guy, notable for being a non-millionaire (dollars to boot, not Euros) in the millionaires' club that is the Senate. His Irish working class background is not BS, it is the real deal. He (and you would appreciate this) has a bit of an intellectual chip on his shoulder because the college and law school he went to were decidedly second or even third tier while his colleagues often went to Yale and Harvard. His main political weakness is that as a Senator from Delaware, a state whose biggest industry is essentially financial services he has had to toe big retail banking's line too often. He is not a particularly social guy by DC standards, mainly because he did not have a home in DC but commuted to and from Wilmington on the train for reasons that are well known.

Of course all of that sticks in your teeth I can see, but that is the way it is.

As far as your points about Palin not being easy to attack the point you missed (hard when you look through a chip) is that I agree with you -- a number of posters have suggested weaknesses that are really terrible areas to attack Palin on, her commitment to her children as a working mother, her choice to have a child with Down's syndrom, even the police commissioner scandal can be portrayed as her sticking up for her sister (standing by family.)

What is with all the Vagina comments (which you correctly criticised as gynocological) -- 51% of the US population has a vagina....and as for intelligent feminists complaining about pandering -- they are missing a point -- if anything the last few Republican elections have shown that pandering works, most people like being pandered to -- why would many women be any different?

It’s no surprise that Sarah has an 80% approval rating- it’s a no-brainer. As a Democrat, I voted for her opponent, but I do recognize her appeal. When she put the former Governor Frank (the Bank) Murkowski’s private jet on Ebay, she converted many of her detractors. Recently, she has pushed through a bill providing a $1200 energy rebate to all Alaskans currently receiving the Permanent Fund Dividend. What’s not to like about that? And the Vogue magazine spread also helped to promote a woman who has been called “The Hottest Governor.” And when many state legislators are either under indictment, or convicted of corruption, as well as our own long term Senator Ted Stevens and Representative Don Young, well, frankly, she looks like the president of the honor society.

Since the announcement, I have been giddy with anticipation. If the Dems can avoid demonizing her, she will reveal her own naivete. She was a good mayor, she might even be a great governor, but, hey, the poor woman is in way over her head now, and sadly, she probably doesn’t even realize it. While many Alaskans are rejoicing over the speculation that finally, Alaska will be on the map, many of are anticipating the likely embarrassment of an Alaskan candidate with no national or international experience. She’s the kind of lady you’d like to shoot hoops with and have a beer with afterward and share family pics. I sincerely hope the McCain campaign’s targeted demographic realize this time around that it takes more than a pretty, Christian, gun-toting girl next door.

All that Biden has to do is to get her to say the names of the President of Iran, the Russian Federation and Georgia in the same sentence. And for bonus points, get her to find the locations of the their countries on a map. Game over.